Exped Synmat Hyperlite M Review

The Good

The Bad

Hard to deflate

Expensive

THE VERDICT

The Exped Synmat fully delivered on being ultralight; however, its comfort was limiting for side sleepers, due to its narrow size at the feet.

FULL REVIEW

Comfort
The Synmat is a tapered design, with the feet being only 13 inches wide, which leads a side sleeper to feel as they are falling off. The sides of the mat have slightly larger baffles, which helps keep the upper body on the skinny mat. The vertical baffles didn’t offer much support and were not preferred for a side sleeper.

Weight
At 12.4oz, the Synmat is only slightly heavier on our scale compared to what the manufacturer claims it to weigh. Nevertheless, it compressed to the smallest size in its category. The Synmat compresses down to smaller than a 1L Nalgene waterbottle.

Warmth
With a 3.3 R Value and a height of 2.75 inches, the Synmat proved to be warm while on cold-hard surfaces. As a three-season pad, the Synmat performed well in early spring temperatures.

Durability
The 20D Polyester ripstop proved to be durable on all surfaces even when kneeling on the pad and while on rough surfaces such as sticks and rock. Note: The D, standing for Denier, essentially means the weight of the fabric (or thickness of thread used). The polyester material used in the Synmat also means it is more fire retardant than Nylon.

Ease of Use
The Synmat comes with a light weight “schnozzel” pump bag for filling, which impressively inflated the mat in less than a minute with two and a half pump bag fills. When deflating the mat, it proved to be a bit of a challenge, as the tester found that the one-way valve needed to be physically pressed while using body weight to push out air.